DREAM and WVR/Sengoku announce joint New Year's Eve event

After rumors of a potential partnership were mixed in with reports of the organization’s potential demise, officials from World Victory Road’s Sengoku event series today announced they’ll join DREAM for a joint event on New Year’s Eve.

The Dec. 31 event includes WVR’s would-be headliner of Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida, as well as the finale of DREAM’s Super Hulk tournament, and other MMA and K-1 bouts.

The event takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

WVR’s future still appears in jeopardy beyond this event with the organization struggling with broadcast partners and attendance. Its sponsor, Don Quijote, reportedly is considering jumping ship, and the joint event may simply be the result of DREAM wanting the matchup between Ishii (0-0) and Yoshida (8-7-1), both of whom are Japanese Olympic gold medalists.

Although only six fights are official, the show is expected to feature up to 20 matchups, many pitting DREAM fighters against those from WVR. They could come from the small army of fighters who attended today’s press conference, including Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinya Aoki, Sakurai “Mach” Hayato, Hideo Tokoro, Hiroyuki Takaya, Katsuyori Shibata, Kazuhisa Watanabe, Hidehiko Yoshidau, Kazuo Misaki, Hiroshi Izumi, Sanae Kikuta, Akihiro Gono, Yokota Kazunori, Rui Hirota, Masanori Kanehara, Eiji Mitsuoka and Nakao “Kiss” Yoshihiro. Eddie Alvarez and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic could also be part of the card.

One bout MMA bout official for the card is the Super Hulk finale. The open-weight tournament began earlier this year with eight competitors, including Gegard Mousasi, Hong Man Choi and Jose Canseco. The finale, though, pits Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa (43-30-8) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (7-5)

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